Patient Education
Short, practical answers to the questions we hear most in the chair.
- Fluoride for Kids in Bend: What Our Water Does (and Doesn't) Do
Parents who move here from Portland suburbs, Seattle or California are often surprised to learn that Bend does not add fluoride to its public water. Neither do Redmond or Sisters. Many private wells in Deschutes County have low natural fluoride levels too. That doesn’t mean your kids are doomed to cavities. It just means the fluoride they get has to come from somewhere else. Where kids get fluoride here Toothpaste. This is the big one. Use a smear the size of a grain of rice from the first tooth until age three, then a pea-sized amount. Spit, don’t rinse; the fluoride left behind keeps working.
- Why Your Jaw Aches in the Morning
If you wake up with a sore jaw, a dull headache at your temples, or teeth that feel slightly loose, there’s a good chance you’re clenching or grinding in your sleep. Dentists call it bruxism, and we see signs of it in roughly one in three adults who come in. How we can tell Most people who grind have no idea they do it. In the chair, the clues are hard to miss:
- What to Expect at Your First Visit
Switching dentists is one of those chores people put off for years. Most of the anxiety is about the unknown, so here is exactly what happens when someone new walks through our door. Before you arrive When you call, we’ll ask for your insurance information and check your benefits that day. That way you know before you sit down whether your cleaning is covered and how much of your annual maximum is left. The evening before, you’ll get a text with a link to your health history and consent forms.